This year, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles announced that it would be partnering with schools across the state to help with a number of White Out events. These events ask that students, parents, teachers and safe-driving advocates wear a white shirt for the day to help raise awareness about teen driving.

Car accidents in Boca Raton and elsewhere are the number one killer of teens in the country. The White Out campaign is part of National Teen Driver Safety Week, which is under way this week. This campaign started in 2007 and has been taking place during the third week of October ever since.

Our Boca Raton car accident attorneys understand how beneficial these types of campaigns are as we continue to see far too many fatal traffic accidents involving teen drivers. Parents are urged to keep safe driving habits as a frequent topic of conversation in the household long after your teen driver gets his or her unrestricted license. Teen drivers who experience more involvement from parents experience less risks for car accidents.

“With increased education and parental support, we can work together to save lives by reducing the number of crashes that involve teens,” said DHSMV Executive Director Julie Jones.

According to a recent study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, teens are most likely to be involved in an accident within the first 30 days of unrestricted driving than during any other time. AAA gathered research by installing cameras into the cars of teenage drivers in North Carolina. The footage concluded that there were three common causes resulting in accidents in which teens were at least partially at fault — driver inattention, failure to yield and speeding. These three causes accounted for about 70 percent of accidents.

Researchers also concluded that as teenage drivers gained more experience behind the wheel, the number of accidents in which speed was a factor reduced gradually.

“We know that young drivers’ crash rates decrease quickly as they gain experience,” said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger.

Accidents were most common when drivers were making left-hand turns. Teen drivers who had parents who were active in their driving career were less likely to be involved in an accident. For this reason, parents are urged to hop in the car with their teen drivers to make sure that they’re driving safely and making smart decisions.

Teen drivers are more likely to engage in driver distractions, including the use of cell phones and text-messaging devices and engaging in banter with other passengers, than any other age group of drivers. These habits are dangerous and greatly increase a driver’s risk for a potentially fatal accident.

For National Teen Driver Safety Week and for long after your teenagers receive their unrestricted license, we’re urging parents to stay active in their career behind the wheel. Make sure they’re making safe and cautious decisions, abiding by all road signs and devices, and that they understand the dangers and risks of poor decisions behind the wheel.